Environment news

• Adani mine railway loan would breach government's policy, says legal group

  05-04-2017 22:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Complaint lodged over prospect of Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding 400km rail lineA $1bn federal loan to builders of a railway line between the proposed Adani coalmine and the coast would be a direct breach of government policy, a legal group has claimed.Environmental Justice Australia has lodged a formal complaint with the Productivity Commission over the prospect of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding the 400km rail line. Continue readin
  
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• Put nature at the heart of the education system | Letters

  05-04-2017 20:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Michael McCarthy (Screens have led to a nature deficit. Kids need to be outdoors, 1 April) highlighted my idea of developing a GCSE in natural history. It is heartening that so many people agree. In response to those who see problems, ranging from the lack of suitably qualified teachers to natural history being just a subset of biology, I would like to stress that the situation for nature in the UK is so serious there is now no room for negativity. The State of Nature Report 2016 showed that Bri
  
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• Energy projects including Hinkley Point threatened by Brexit, experts warn

  05-04-2017 19:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Risk of energy sector being denied entry to Europe’s internal energy market looms large – with Brexit also likely to exacerbate industry skills shortages Vital energy projects including the £18bn Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant and interconnectors used to import cheap electricity from Europe are under threat due to Brexit, energy experts have warned.They said the projects, which are key to efforts to keep the UK’s lights on, could be at risk if the energy sector is de
  
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• Potentially Explosive Methane Gas Mobile in Groundwater, Poses Safety Risk: Study

  05-04-2017 18:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Potentially explosive methane gas leaking from energy wells may travel extensively through groundwater and pose a safety risk, according to a new study by University of Guelph researchers.
  
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• Nitrogen, phosphorus from fertilizers and pet waste polluting urban water

  05-04-2017 18:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  New research from the University of Minnesota points to lawn fertilizers and pet waste as the dominant sources of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants in seven sub-watersheds of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
  
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• First study finds neonic pesticides in US drinking water

  05-04-2017 18:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists in the US find traces of the most widely used insecticides in tap water for the first time.
  
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• The man who lived inside a giant wooden egg

  05-04-2017 18:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Artist Stephen Turner lived on the egg from July 2013 until July 2014.
  
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• Make car makers, not drivers, pay for the diesel crisis, experts say

  05-04-2017 17:40 via theguardian.com
  
  German and French governments have already required that manufacturers fix vehicles spewing high levels of toxic pollution but UK is ‘doing nothing’The diesel-fuelled air pollution crisis should be solved by making motor companies recall and upgrade the dirty cars they sold, experts said on Wednesday. Current UK plans are focused on making diesel drivers pay to enter cities and a possible taxpayer-funded scrappage scheme.Continue reading...
  
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• Environmentalists sue EPA for reversing Obama-era move to ban pesticide

  05-04-2017 17:40 via theguardian.com
  
  The EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, has ignored the scientific recommendation of his own agency to allow continued use of chlorpyrifos, despite its links to brain damageEnvironmental groups have filed a complaint against the US government over its support of a pesticide linked to brain damage in children, one week after Donald Trump’s administration rejected federally backed science and reversed an Obama-era policy.The Pesticide Action Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) file
  
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• Business and policy leaders call for low-carbon Industrial Strategy

  05-04-2017 17:24
  
  A number of business and political leaders, including former Business Secretary Vince Cable, have today (5 April) called on the Government to embed low-carbon principles into the new Industrial Strategy, in a report released by the Green Alliance.
  
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• Cities of the Future Will Depend on Resiliency to Meet Urbanization Demands

  05-04-2017 17:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Urbanization and the notion of smart cities have been emerging topics for some time now. This is no surprise, given that urban residents accounted for 54 percent of the total global population in 2015, and are expected to grow to 60 percent by 2030, according to the World Health Organization.
  
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• The Tropical Cyclone Report: A report card for every storm

  05-04-2017 15:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  For every tropical depression, tropical storm and hurricane in the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins, a comprehensive review, known as a Tropical Cyclone Report, is performed by the National Hurricane Center.
  
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• First-of-its-kind Interactive Map Brings Together 40 Years of Water-Quality Data

  05-04-2017 15:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new U.S. Geological Survey interactive map provides a comprehensive, long-term look at changes in the quality of our nation’s rivers and streams over the last four decades. For the first time, monitoring data collected by the USGS and 73 other organizations at almost 1,400 sites have been combined to provide a nationwide look at changes in the quality of our rivers and streams between the 1972 passage of the Clean Water Act and 2012.
  
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• Reebok to 'grow' bio-based footwear

  05-04-2017 15:05
  
  Fitness giant Reebok has announced a new product development initiative which will lead to the launch of footwear made from "things that grow" later this year.
  
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• Sustainability unleashed: How Pets at Home is delivering huge energy savings

  05-04-2017 13:46
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Retailer Pets at Home has recorded energy savings of 32% across its stores after a "game-changing" LED lighting project was embraced across the entire business, the firm's energy manager has revealed.
  
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• Nick Hurd: Political will to reach climate commitments needs business support

  05-04-2017 13:46
  
  A "genuine and irresistible" political momentum to reach the targets of the Paris Agreement needs to be supported at local and business levels to drive new innovations to decarbonise struggling sectors, the UK's Climate Change Minister Nick Hurd has claimed.
  
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• Egypt’s real treasure: diving with sharks in the Red Sea

  05-04-2017 12:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Egypt’s diving is spectacular, and could help revive the country’s tourism industry – but only the value of its marine life is recognised and protectedTo say the Egyptian economy, much reliant on tourism, has seen a turbulent time of late, would be a woeful understatement. As you travel along the Red Sea coast from Hurghada, through Safaga, and El Quseir, the litter-strewn landscape of low hills and desert occasionally gives way to tourism developments and scattered internation
  
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• How do you dispose of throwaway plastic bottles?

  05-04-2017 11:49 via theguardian.com
  
  We’d like to find out about how single-use plastic bottles are recycled where you live. Share your you views and experiences from around the worldThe disposal of plastic bottles is a global issue. Every year millions of single-use bottles end up in landfill sites or in our oceans and a very small proportion are recycled. It’s estimated Americans throw away at least 50 million bottles every day. Every year, a UK household uses 480 plastic bottles, but only recycles 270 of them, accord
  
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• Making the connection: What does a winning sustainability communications strategy look like?

  05-04-2017 11:30
  
  From breaking down interdepartmental language barriers to aligning specific CSR targets with broader corporate goals, effective communication techniques have become something of an art form among sustainability professionals in recent times. So, what does a successful, all-encompassing communications strategy look like?
  
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• The end of coal: EU energy companies pledge no new plants from 2020

  05-04-2017 11:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Companies from every EU nation except Poland and Greece sign up to initiative in bid to meet Paris pledges and limit effects of climate changeEurope’s energy utilities have rung the death knell for coal, with a historic pledge that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.The shock announcement was made at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 442 years after the continent’s first pit was sunk by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, in Scotland. Continue reading...
  
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• edie Live exhibitor focus: Munters

  05-04-2017 09:51
  
  Ahead of edie Live at the NEC on 23-24 May, we get up close and personal with some of our exhibitors to find out what visitors can expect to see from them at the show, what's new and how they can help in the drive towards sustainability targets.
  
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• Climate change impacting ‘most’ species on Earth, even down to their genomes

  05-04-2017 09:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Three recent studies point to just how broad, bizarre, and potentially devastating climate change is to life on Earth. And we’ve only seen one degree Celsius of warming so far.
  Climate change is rapidly becoming a crisis that defies hyperbole. For all the sound and fury of climate change denialists, self-deluding politicians and a very bewildered global public, the science behind climate change is rock solid while the impacts – observed on every ecosystem on the planet – are oc
  
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• Climate change impacting ‘most’ species on Earth, even down to their genome

  05-04-2017 09:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Three recent studies point to just how broad, bizarre, and potentially devastating climate change is to life on Earth. And we’ve only seen one degree Celsius of warming so far.
  Climate change is rapidly becoming a crisis that defies hyperbole. For all the sound and fury of climate change denialists, self-deluding politicians and a very bewildered global public, the science behind climate change is rock solid while the impacts – observed on every ecosystem on the planet – are oc
  
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• Veolia to build £10m closed-loop glass recycling facility

  05-04-2017 09:15
  
  Resource management firm Veolia has agreed a deal to construct and operate a state-of-the-art glass cullet processing facility in a closed-loop partnership with a UK wool insulation manufacturer.
  
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• David Attenborough and BBC take us to Hotel Armadillo – in pictures

  05-04-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The giant armadillo benefits 80 other species by providing a unique lodging and dining service in the largest wetland on Earth – the Pantanal in Brazil. Here’s a sneak peek into the lives of nature’s most amazing host and its guests Continue reading...
  
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• 'Spider bite' double amputation likely to be mistaken identity, experts say

  05-04-2017 07:09 via theguardian.com
  
  White-tail spider unlikely to be responsible for necrotising skin infection that led to amputation of Filipino tourist’s legsA Melbourne man’s double amputation is likely to have been misattributed to a white-tail spider bite.
  The family of Terry Pareja, a Filipino tourist, say he may have been bitten by a white-tailed spider while visiting relatives in Birchip in regional Victoria in late February.Continue reading...
  
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• 'Irreversible consequences': Adani coalmine granted unlimited water access for 60 years

  05-04-2017 07:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental and legal groups fear impact on groundwater and accuse Queensland government of giving Indian mining company special treatmentAdani’s controversial $21bn Carmichael coalmine has been granted an unlimited 60-year water licence in what environmental and legal groups say is another example of governments giving the company special treatment.The associated water licence, signed by a Queensland government representative the day after Cyclone Debbie tore through the state’s n
  
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• Marine power: can UK companies rule the waves?

  05-04-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Despite past failures and high costs, wave power companies are pushing ahead with research trials“In two weeks we face the full brunt of the South Westerlies and we’ll see what the sea is going to do to us.” Simon Gillett has a habit of talking about the device his company, Wave-tricity, has created as an extension of himself. This must be a nerve-wracking time. Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit could endanger rare species, say British zoos

  05-04-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums fears UK zoos will be excluded from EU-wide breeding programmesBritish zoos fear Brexit could endanger rare species by ending the free movement of animals across Europe.If Britain severs ties with Brussels without a deal, UK zoos would effectively be thrown out of EU-wide breeding programmes and forced into protracted negotiations country by country, according to the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza). Continue reading.
  
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• Like love, violets gladden the heart

  05-04-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wenlock Edge Violets have a built-in nostalgia, a belonging to something that is always fleeting and longed forA century and a half ago, when springs were different, the poet John Clare wrote: “All bleaching in the thin March air / the scattered violets lie.” (March Violet). He may have meant violets growing under withered and bleached nettle stems, but for me, today, there are shining white violets “bleaching” on the hedge bank in one of the last cold, grey, “thin&
  
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• Rare red panda triplets born near Sydney – video

  05-04-2017 05:45 via theguardian.com
  
  A trio of red pandas have made their public debut at Symbio wildlife park, south of Sydney. They were born to first-time mother Kesari and father Pabu on Christmas Eve, weighing about 100g each. The pups are all male and the Symbio team will be announcing their names, once decided, over the coming days Continue reading...
  
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• 'Spider bite' double amputation likely to be mistaken identity, says arachnologist

  05-04-2017 05:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Expert says white-tail spider unlikely to be responsible for amputation of Melbourne man’s legsA Melbourne man’s double amputation is likely to have been misattributed to a white-tail spider bite.
  Terry Pareja underwent emergency surgery at Wimmera Base hospital in Horsham, Victoria, to have his right leg amputated. He was then airlifted to the Alfred hospital in Melbourne, where his left leg was amputated.Continue reading...
  
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• After the flood: 'No tourists please. Help welcome'

  05-04-2017 04:17 via theguardian.com
  
  On a journey through northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Warren Murray meets locals contending with the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie Light to moderate traffic is easing along the Pacific motorway connecting the Gold Coast and the Tweed, with no particular sign of storm damage or delays. But in Chinderah, just inside New South Wales and just off the highway, John Anderson is in full-tilt disaster recovery mode, contending with the aftermath of the flooding rains that ex-cyclone Debbi
  
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• World is home to '60,000 tree species'

  05-04-2017 01:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers estimate that there are 60,065 species of trees in the world.
  
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• Clear air plans won't punish drivers of older diesel cars, PM promises

  05-04-2017 01:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Theresa May ‘very conscious’ that past governments encouraged motorists to buy diesel cars, as increased charges for polluting vehicles loom largeTheresa May says she will not punish drivers of older diesel cars who were encouraged to buy the polluting vehicles under the Labour government.A crackdown on the vehicles to tackle poor air quality has been announced by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, with drivers of polluting vehicles facing £24-a-day charges to drive in central Londo
  
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